Rural Hospital Medicine Specialist or FACEM - Fixed-term at Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand Southern, Otago

Queenstown, Lakes District Hospital

Fixed-term 0.88 FTE - 27 Jan - 31 August 2025

Queenstown's Lakes District Hospital has three fixed-term (0.88 FTE) opportunities for:

Dual trained RHM/FACEM
FACEM with rural hospital experience

The fixed-term period will cover the following timeframes:

17/11/2024 -25/08/2025 - Parental leave cover

You will be joining our team of enthusiastic rural generalists who provide emergency and in-patient care to our community. Queenstown Lakes District has a permanent, rapidly growing, population of around 35000 and a large visitor population. Lakes District Hospital consists of 12 General Medical beds, five Maternity beds, Emergency Department and a small outpatient department. Those who require urgent specialist care are transferred by road or helicopter to Invercargill or Dunedin. We work closely with St Johns, the Otago Trust Rescue Helicopter and the Dunedin ICU Retrieval service to navigate patient transfers. We work closely with multiple providers including Primary Care, Dunstan Hospital, Central Otago Southern Cross Hospital, Arvida and Hospice. We have onsite Radiology, including a CT Scanner, access to an off-site Laboratory service and a limited supply of O negative blood. In this role you will manage patients on the ward and in the Emergency Department, where we see around 16,000 patients a year.

Mō te tūranga - About the role

At Lakes District Hospital you'll be part of a team of 14 SMOs who are RHM trained, FACEM, or dual-trained RHM and FACEM. The SMO-led ED and ward are supported by a team of 2 Nurse Practitioners and 6 Registrars who are mostly on RHM and ACEM training programmes. You will need to be comfortable working as a solo practitioner at night and managing complex logistical transport issues without on-site specialist support. In ED we see a variety of adult and paediatric medicine. Trauma makes up 40-50% of our ED presentations. Our in-patient constitutes a mix of general medicine, geriatrics, paediatrics, mental health, non-operative surgical and orthopaedics, rehabilitation medicine and palliative care. We also provide emergency back-up for the on-site Lakes primary birthing unit and Community Mental Health Team. Our SMOs provide 24 hour cover through rostered shifts, working alone overnight with on-call backup that may be up to 30 minutes away. Remote specialist phone advice from base hospital is readily available. We are a teaching centre for Rural Immersion undergraduate Medical Programme (RMIP) students.

You will need to be a Fellow of the Division of Rural Hospital Medicine (FDRHM) with an interest and experience in Emergency medicine, or a dual trained RHM/FACEM or FACEM with an interest and experience in rural hospital medicine. Ideally, you'll have a postgraduate qualification in Point of Care Ultrasound. You'll be comfortable working flexibly with our small team of excellent nurses and allied health professionals and be keen to help us develop services as we grow.

Are you looking for a chance to secure a balanced lifestyle? Queenstown needs no introduction; whatever your interest or preferred pastime you will find the opportunity to indulge it here. As we are located close to some of New Zealand's best national parks, vineyards and ski fields, you will have the best of both worlds not to mention work life balance. We look forward to having you with our team!

Utu whānui - Salary range

This role belongs to the ASMS Collective Agreement and falls between Step 1 ($185,380) and Step 15 ($267,980 per annum pro-rata)

Due to the fast-paced nature of what we do, our vacancy close dates may be subject to change. Don't delay, make sure you apply as soon as possible.

Due to the nature of this role, we will not be able to accept agency candidates. For a job description or further information, please contact, Agatha Chen, Recruitment Advisor - Senior Medical Officers with your CV. Phone: +64 3 470 9604 or email:

We are not accepting agency applications at this time.

In the interests of protecting our people and our patients, all appointments will be subject to the following:

Occupational health assessment
Police vetting/Ministry of Justice safety checks
Serious misconduct checks (previous Public Service departments and statutory Crown entities only)

Employer: Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand Southern

Note: You may be redirected to the employer's careers website.

#J-18808-Ljbffr

New Zealand Government jobs

Rural Hospital Medicine Specialist or FACEM - Fixed-term